Christopher McDougall

author of Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes

“There has always been an “anti-female” attitude lurking beneath the surface of running”

The Guardian asked me to weigh in on the bizarre decision by track’s governing body to suddenly change rules that have been in place for 40 years and nullify one of the greatest performances in modern sports: Paula Radcliffe’s world record in the marathon. Is it a coincidence that 23 of the 28 people who made this decision are men? Or that every member of the IAAF’s top-heavy executive staff — president, senior vice president, various vice presidents, general counsel — is male?
I don’t think so, as I point out in my Guardian piece.
And I’m happy to see that both Neil Amdur, former New York Times sports editor, and Tim Hutchings, track commentator and 1984 British Olympian, agree.
As Hutchings puts it:

I think there is a heavy anti-female leaning in this decision that needs to be exposed if this decision is ever to be reversed.